The sky that lies by the Nile's banks (english version)
by Crimson99tears
Summary: A girl from our time is dragged to the past by a powerful magic, to the age of ancient Egypt. In order to go back to her age, she must survive the wars, intrigues and conflicts that threaten Egypt and its Pharaohs. Her foe: The sorceress that summoned her to have her sacrificed. Her ally: The Pharaoh's son, who promised to protect her and help her go back home.
1. CHAPTER 1: Nightmare

**Disclaimer:** Anatolia Story and YuGiOh as well as all their reserved rights, belong to their respective authors and copyright owners.

I do not own any of the copyrights from either YuGiOh or Anatolia Story.

This fanfiction is made with the sole purpose of entertainment and not to obtain any kind of economical profit or retribution, it's also not made to infringe upon the copyrights of any person or enterprise.

**CHAPTER 1: Nightmare.**

Shooting and a blowup sound in the distance. A little girl lets a loud scream escape her and she covers her ears.

"Run, Lea, run!"

A young boy comes close to the girl, stretching his hand out to her.

"Take my hand! Don't stop and don't let go of my hand!"

She takes the boy's hand without hesitating and runs off with him in the middle of all the screaming and the running of the crowd. A close explosion startles them, making the ground shake and the girl's legs lose their balance. The girl has suddenly let go of the boy's hand, falling on her knees to the ground, turning to look in all directions, searching for the boy with eyes full of tears, but he is not there and the shooting is coming closer.

The boy's voice sounds in the distance although he is nowhere to be seen.

"Lea! Lea…!"

And so, the voice turns into a vague echo. So real, so clear, and yet, it fades away with the sunlight of dawn.

Lea wakes up in a gasp, tears already in her eyes and a bitter oppression within her chest. Straightening up on her bed, she wonders why she's had that dream and, although she remains completely silent, she can't stop the moist dripping but by bit down her cheeks. It had been a while already since the last time she woke up like that, since the nightmares had stopped, but… would they ever go away for good?

"I guess not…" she answered herself, running her fingers through her hair, pain softly touching her face. Two big fat tears broke out from her hazel eyes and she shut them closed, squeezing them out. Right at the beginning of the day, she got stuck in the vivid sounds from that dream. Her body moved by inertia, driven by routine, but in her gaze, it could be noticed her absent self as the morning went by and everyone else at home did notice.

"Lea, what's wrong? Are you not hungry? You've barely touched your breakfast…"

"Huh…?" she came back to the present, turned to see aunt Mandy, then stared at her half-eaten dish and the white hand of the aunt who was taking the plate away.

"You let your pancakes go cold already, Honey. Should I make you fresh ones or would you like something else to eat?" she asked with a sweet smile.

"No, no! Sorry, aunt Mandy! No need! These are just fine, I'll just re-heat them a little."

Lea took the plate from the aunt's hands, stood up and took it straight into the microwave oven to re-heat her breakfast. Aunt Mandy watched her do so, not very convinced of the girl's solution.

"But, Honey, are you sure? They'll go soggy in the microwave."

"Is something the matter, Lea?" asked then uncle Greg, who saw the whole thing from the opposite side of the table, "You seem to be a little out of it today, you haven't spoken a word all morning either, is everything ok?"

"Yeah, it's nothing really…" she replied, staring at her spinning plate in the microwave oven, "It's all good, it's just… I had a bad dream…"

Both guardians knew then what it was all about. Aunt Mandy went straight to the girl's side to comfort her while uncle Greg watched them both with an understanding, caring expression on his face, trying to lift up Lea's spirits from his seating in the table. After all, even though nightmares are scary, in the end, they're just bad dreams and can't hurt us.

But they did hurt Lea, not physically, but they did in other ways. Every time the echo of those sounds rumbled in her head, her heart would get a bit busted, deepening a sore in her soul. Despite it all, she couldn't help recalling those echoes. Being in class made her forget those nightmares from time to time during the day, but they'd still come back like waves, just coming and going all day. And as the day went by, the more she looked forward to leaving the school building and going to her private gymnastics training. Her urge to take a good load of those awful feelings off of her chest kept growing all morning and she craved to stay at the gym and keep training even after private classes were over, just train and train until she fainted, train until she couldn't think anymore from tiredness. Maybe then her sleep would be deep and dreamless.

It started raining when she went to retrieve her school bag and the rest of her stuff from her locker so then she realized she had forgotten to bring her raincoat. She scolded herself inwardly. Would the memory of those sounds ever stop affecting her so much?

"I guess not…" she sighed in resignation.

She had no choice but taking off her school uniform blazer; a nice, formal, lead gray blazer, custom made and made out of a high-quality fabric, which on the other hand, was not exactly made to protect her from water. She spread it open and tried covering her head with it as best as she could, making a sort of umbrella out of it, and she dashed off to the gym where she took private classes at, her school bag hanging on her back and both arms holding the blazer above her head.

It was pouring on her way there. Water ran in little streamlets down the streets and straight into the sewers. Lea reached the only corner that separated the school's block from the gym's block, which could actually be seen to be no more than 200 meters ahead. There were no cars or even people around as it seemed that the rain had driven the neighbors and everyone else into their homes, so the street was totally empty and she ran to cross the street.

When she was right in the middle of the cross street, her foot sank a little bit in a shallow puddle, which she didn't even pay attention to, until she felt a tug on her ankle that forced her to stop on the spot. She tried to take a step forward but failed for her ankle was being held tightly. For a second, she was worried that maybe her foot had gotten stuck in a sewer, but when she turned her sight to her ankle, she saw that what was actually holding it so firmly was a human hand, a pale, woman-like hand that came out of that small shallow puddle. Confused, she stayed still for a few seconds, unable to process the image she saw and then she noticed how all the rain water that poured down and built up on the streets, had stopped flowing into the sewers and started running instead straight towards that small puddle. The puddle absorbed all the water and grew into a fairly sized pool in just a blink. Lea felt a chill run up her back and yanked her foot to release herself, but that hand had her held in a firm grip. Next thing she felt, was that woman hand pulling her into the puddle and right then and there, the girl sank into it with a scream.

Nobody heard her asking for help. Just as quickly as it had grown with the rain, the dark puddle completely dried up after swallowing Lea Shelley. Only her gray blazer stayed behind; soaked, dropped in the middle of the street, half floating in the streamlets under the pouring rain.

The girl barely managed to take in enough air before sinking into the darkness of water. She couldn't see anything but she knew she was being sucked in and down to the bottom by a strong whirlpool. Her heart beat fast and fear started taking over her, however, she told herself that she must hang in there and don't panic. If she gave up and let panic win, she'd drown for sure and then it'll be all over. At that moment, the only thing that Lea must really focus on was surviving. She could swim quite well but she still felt that hand holding her ankle and dragging her further down into that whirlpool.

A laugher emerged from the absolute darkness, distorted by the water. It was a cold woman's voice, a voice as cold as ice that almost scared the air out of Lea. Could it be the voice of whoever was dragging her to the bottom? Was she the owner of that pale hand gripping her ankle?

_I've got to break free!_ She thought, and she heard that voice talking again, unable to make out anything it said, but 100% certain that her life depended on this.

_I've got to break free!_

She kicked down and struggled to get free until she hit her boot's heel strongly enough on the hand, and only then, it let go of her. She swam as fast as she could, even though she still had her school bag on her back, but she didn't even mind it. Reaching the surface as quick as possible was all that mattered, she could barely hold her breath any longer. And then the girl saw a light coming through the water's surface and she swan towards it at full speed.

Suddenly, a head full of thick, wavy, reddish brown hair, came out of a small spring built at ground level, gasping for air, coughing a little and panting. There were screaming around, from women who never expected to see a person come out of a well just so. The sounds of a few jars falling and breaking to pieces on the floor could also be heard.

Startled, Lea looked around, bewilderment plastered all over her face. There were people surrounding the well and watching her, almost as stunned and scared as she was while looking back at them all. Their skin was a dark shade of tan and they were lightly dressed in short linen robes and some sort of linen skirt-like garments. She saw some adornments and wigs on them that had quite a particular style.

Lea came out of the spring without taking her eyes off of those people who stared at her baffled and scared, although not as much as she was. Her hazel eyes scanned everything and somehow the girl had the strange sensation of being in a historic movie set or an Egypt documentary set. Yes, everything around had a peculiar vibe that reminded her of that ancient culture, regardless how much or how little she knew about it. She slithered out of the well and ran off as fast as she could to look for covert.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of a dark cave not so far from Lea's spring, a figure was kneeling on the ground, covered from head to toe with a long cloak while praying in front of what looked like a pond.

"It looks like she got away…" said a woman's voice, taking her pale hands out of the water, "This is truly disappointing, just a little more and could have brought her here. But she is certainly within this kingdom. She should have arrived in one of the other 6 springs in the city."

There was another figure standing behind the kneeling woman, also covered by a long cloak while holding a torch. A man's voice answered then to the woman.

"If that is so, then let's call for some soldiers. The girl will be before you soon, your Highness."

"Naturally. I summoned that girl for a reason. No matter what happens, her blood is needed."

Lea wandered the streets for a while, lost, scared and soaked. She wandered among adobe houses and stone buildings. She didn't recognize anything of her surroundings and as time went by, she felt more and more helpless. She still carried her bag on her shoulders. She thought about calling home, even though her cell phone was probably ruined now from that soaking, but it was well worth a try. Nothing. The phone didn't even turn on. She took the battery out and put them in her bag again separately.

_Just in case, just in case…_

All of her and what she had on her were dripping wet, but where else would she carry her stuff around? That bag and everything inside it were all she had now, possibly her only safe passage.

People in the streets stared at her like she was an alien, and in a way, yes, all wet and dressed as she was -formal gray trousers, white shirt, red sweater, neck tie and short black boots-, she must have looked like a crazy person to them. The intense desert sun was omnipresent and its heat was suffocating, some women even left her bosom bare and some little kids were out there undressed. No matter how you looked at it, she stood out like a sore thumb. Besides, the poor girl had already realized that all of those people spoke a language unknown to her, so asking for help didn't look like an option either.

There were moments when her eyes would damp up and burn a little bit, however, she refused to give in to crying. She kept telling herself that she had to pull herself together, keep calm, even when she was falling to despair deep inside.

_Where am I? Why am I here? What should I do? Aunt Mandy… Uncle Greg… What do I do? Help me… Please come get me!_ She thought over and over in the depths of her heart, fighting the urge to let out a sob.

Her thoughts streamed and scrambled thru her head while she wandered those streets aimlessly. She tried comforting herself by thinking about her caring guardians and about what they'd tell her she should and shouldn't do in that situation. She tried to lift her own spirits and then it occurred to her that if she could reach a higher place to stand, perhaps she could better see what kind of place she was in now.

Just a little further ahead, she could see what looked like a rampart surrounding the houses and buildings. It was the highest building in sight, if she could climb up there, she'd get the sight she wanted and yes, there was an easy access stairway that would lead her all the way up. She went up in a hurry, her heart racing both curious and hopeful. What exactly was that place? As she reached the top of the rampart, she was able to behold it all and she went speechless once more. It was a large, splendid city. Behind the rampart walls, hundreds of houses, big and small, spread in every direction; wide stone paved avenues and huge quarry temples covered in golden embellishment ruled the scenery. It was Egypt, the Egypt from books, the Egypt from movies, only real… alive!

"It can't be…" Lea beheld it all, marveled by such gorgeous view and at the same time, she was in absolute disbelief. Was she dreaming now? Had she fallen asleep, had she fainted? Was she hallucinating?

Anyhow, she thought that, yes, it all made sense. She must have been asleep, it was all a dream, just a dream. How else could this all be happening to her? She didn't know whether she should cry or laugh now since, no matter how much she pinched her arm or slapped her face, she just wouldn't wake up from that 'dream' and something into her head told her repeatedly 'No, you're not sleeping, you're not sleeping!'

A couple tiny tears finally leaked out the corners of her eyes as she gazed upon the glorious city. Further away, there was the great Nile river, Egyptian boats going up and down its stream and its banks covered in farming fields and greenery.

"What do I do? What am I going to do now? How will I get back home?"

She was just about to cry out all of that anguish she had been holding back, but then she noticed she wasn't alone up there anymore. A group of men were coming up from another stairway and were quickly approaching her. They all got the same kind of nemes covering their heads as well as they wore the same kind of shenti and the same type of front piece on their chests. They all held either a sword or a spear in their hands.

_Egyptian… soldiers?_ She thought.

She couldn't understand what they were telling her, but just from the tone in which they spoke up and their body language, her instinct knew she'd better run away. She ran off again, hopping down the stairs two-on-two and scurrying back among the adobe little houses. The soldiers were certainly chasing close after her. She ran as fast as her legs allowed her to and tried to lose the soldiers in the interweaving of houses and walls, but she had no idea where she was going herself and those streets and alleys were like a maze. More soldiers started showing up from every direction she went and the girl realized they were cornering her. She had to slip away somehow before they'd get her, she had to hide where no one could see her. She sneaked into the patio of one of those residences and searched there for a good place to hide away, but then she bumped against a tall man who was covered head to toe with a large cloak.

_Damn it! This guy saw me sneak in here! Where should I run to now? I can't get out from where I came in, those soldiers are going to find me!_

Her thoughts raced in her mind in fractions of a second while the man standing in front of her took the cloak off his head and shoulders. He talked to her but the girl, of course, could not understand a single word. She stared at him for a second: Tall, tanned skin, large and penetrating violet eyes; tricolored, spiked hair; young but somehow a bit older than her, nicely dressed, good looking. He didn't look like a soldier at all, was he maybe the owner of that residence?

_Where should I run to? Where should I go? Whoever you are, please don't let them know I'm here!_ She kept thinking with slightly teary eyes.

And then they heard the soldiers running towards them. Lea had no other choice but running in the opposite direction, she'd climb up the ceiling if necessary, in order to flee, but when she ran pass the man with the cloak, she felt a male's hand grabbing her arm and yanking her backwards.

"No, please! Let go! Let go of me!" she pleaded, although she knew beforehand that he could not understand her and that even if he could, he must be siding with those soldiers.

The man let himself fall to the ground, right on top of Lea and simply sealed her mouth shut with an out-of-nowhere kiss. His large cloak now covered them both completely and next thing Lea knew was that man's tongue had slipped into her mouth practically without a warning. What the heck was that guy thinking? Was this really happening to her now? Was her luck really so rotten? The poor girl felt an awful void growing in her stomach. The adrenalin that had built up in her body made her shake and have a suffocating sensation, tears streamed down from fear without she being able to stop them any longer.

_Why? Why is this all happening to me?! Aunt Mandy! Uncle Greg! Help me! Somebody help me!_ She screamed to her insides.

The soldiers arrived and all they saw was the bulge Lea and that man formed as the cloak hid their bodies.

"Hey you! A girl came this way. Which way did she run?"

The cloak man stopped kissing the girl and immediately covered her mouth, silencing her. She looked straight at those violet eyes, shaking in panic, and yet knowing somehow that she should stay still and keep quiet.

"A girl?" the man replied, straightening up just enough so his own identity could be seen but not Lea's, "Well, I must have not noticed her. When I'm with a woman, no other woman can catch my eye."

"It's… it's Atem-sama!"

"At-Atem-sama, why are you in a place like this?"

Lea was shocked. She was hearing them talking, she was listening to their conversation… and she was actually understanding what they were saying! Just a minute ago, she couldn't understand one word they said, but from one second to the next one, she heard them speak in that strange language, which she had never even heard before, and she was understanding everything as if she had spoken the language her whole life. It was so bizarre.

"Uh, um… we seek a girl…" said one of the soldiers again, but his voice didn't sound anything like it did before, "We're sure a foreign girl in strange clothes came this way…"

The male with tricolored hair threw a dry, almost angry glance at the soldiers.

"Like I said, I did not see her. I finally reached a high note with the woman whose heart I've won… so don't intrude."

"B-but…"

"Get out of my sight!" he exclaimed, and the soldiers dashed off on the spot while replying a 'Yes sir!' all at once.

Once the soldiers had left them alone, Atem finally moved his weight off of the girl and studied her closely, curious but with a serious face on him.

"You certainly do look strange. What country are you from? What did you do to get the queen's own army chasing after you?"

Lea immediately sneaked from underneath that man without taking her eyes off of him. She was somehow relieved, yes, but she was still way too confused and she still had no effing idea of what was going on. That man who had just helped her, could she really trust him? And how many more options did she had anyway?

"The queen's army…?" _I don't get it! I don't understand a damn thing either! The queen's soldiers? Why? What's all this about? And how come I can now understand and speak their language? It makes no freaking sense!_

She gasped as realization had suddenly hit her and she brought her hand up to her mouth, blushing hard.

_No way! Was is it because of that kiss…?_

The man noticed this and a flirty smile curved up his lips.

"I'm sorry if my earlier actions were rude. I didn't mean to bother you" his hand reached out to cup her chin between his thumb and index, the same smile still roaming his face, "But if you're unhappy that I cut the kiss short, I don't mind finishing it. I never leave business unfinished with a woman."

In a cat-like reflex, Lea automatically slapped the tanned hand away.

"Take your hands off of me!" she exclaimed and, for the third time since she arrived, she stood up as fast as she could and dashed away again.

"Hey wait!" the tanned male called out but he couldn't do anything to stop her. Lea was fast and she was way too frightened to think things through with a cool judgement.

_I can't trust him! I can't trust anyone!_

In her frantic fled, she didn't realize she had left behind her school bag, right there on the ground, right where some tanned man had stolen a kiss from her.

The chasing started over again, but the soldiers had already spread all over the area and had Lea totally surrounded. They captured her. Nobody tired to help her, nobody took pity on her tears or her pleas.

She was taken to the queen's palace and there she was held prisoner in an isolated chamber, tied up from her hands and feet to a stone pillar. The girl sobbed in silence; long and through, but very quietly. Her weak sobbing could be hear only when getting close by. Why must she suffer like this? Why must she go through all this? Those nightmares that haunted her seemed to have come true.

***** Notes from the author *****

Hi there, readers! Thank you for staying until the end of this first chapter! 😃

I hope you enjoyed the first release of my little fanfic proposal. Ahhh, these introductory chapters tend to be so boring; I know, I know! So full of tedious information nobody cares about that much, but still necessary to somehow know who is who and what the hell is going on. Although, to be fair, many things did happen to our main character in this first chapter. I just hope it was entertaining enough for you all. All the good stuff will truly start next chapter though, so keep looking forward to it! 😉

I had wished to write this fanfic since a long, long time ago. If any of you have ever read the 'Sora wa akai kawa no hotori' manga (a.k.a. 'Anatolia story' or 'Red River'), then I'm sure you'd recognize the story and you'd also agreed that the mangaka, Chie Shinohara, did an amazing job with this manga. ❤ Anatolia story is probably my favorite manga ever: I love the story, the characters, the visual art and, obviously, this is a 100% recommended mange for anyone who loves a good Shojo or Josei.

One of my personal, little fantasies was always seeing Anatolia story's plot, but starred by the characters from another one of my all-times favorite manga, that is to say, starred by the 'YuGiOh' characters. The characters from the YuGiOh manga hold quite a special place in my heart (because puberty and nostalgia XD), so this idea was something I was dying to play and experiment with, and thus, here we are, trying to make something fun and interesting out of this fanfic. LOL!

That said, I wouldn't really categorize this fanfic as a crossover of both manga/stories in a true sense, I'd much rather say that this is some kind of 'remake' or an alternate version of Anatolia story, but with YuGiOh's cast, and I do hope this makes some sort of sense, cause I don't really know what the hell I'm talking about at this point. I do this all for plain and simple fun but also because I wanted to share that fun with more people who may find this as entertaining as I do, hahaha. :'D

But in any case, I really hope you liked the first chapter and remember that all your constructive comments and opinions are always welcome. See you next chapter! :3


	2. CHAPTER 2: Ceremony

**Disclaimer:** Anatolia Story and YuGiOh as well as all their reserved rights, belong to their respective authors and copyright owners.

I do not own any of the copyrights from either YuGiOh or Anatolia Story.

This fanfiction is made with the sole purpose of entertainment and not to obtain any kind of economical profit or retribution, it's also not made to infringe upon the copyrights of any person or enterprise.

**CHAPTER 2: Ceremony.**

"It was a mistake to let her be seen by the common folk."

A woman's voice was coming closer to Lea's prison chamber.

"I had to put an end to it before uproar spread too much."

It was her, it was _that_ voice, the voice she heard in that dark puddle, the voice of the woman who had dragged her in and brought her here.

The big wooden door of that chamber opened up and behind it a pair of figures walked in. A tall woman, her skin fairly pale for an Egyptian; amber eyes and voluptuous curves. She was finely dressed, wearing the type of wig you'd expect from this age and country; big opulent jewelry all over her and an impeccable make up. Lea couldn't help thinking of Cleopatra when she saw her, just the way the famous queen was portrayed by Hollywood movies, maybe even more beautiful.

Behind her, a cloaked man whose face could not be seen, was following close by.

"Welcome to Thebes" said the woman with a smile as cold as her eyes and voice.

"You… It was you, wasn't it? You are the one who dragged me here! Why?! What do you want from me?!"

The woman approached and leaned towards her with that smile Lea found so chilly.

"Just stay still. I need your blood" with her finger, she drew a straight line across Lea's neck. "I'll cut like this… right here. Your freshly flowing red blood is essential."

"Wha…" a chill ran up her spine, "What are you talking about?"

The beautiful woman let out a soft yet devious chuckle.

"You see, his Majesty, the Pharaoh, is already an old man. It won't be long before he dies and when that moment comes, I want my son, a prince, to inherit the throne. But my son is the youngest of the princes, so in order for him to become the crown prince, the older princes will have to die." A grim smile grew on the sorceress' face, "In order to cast a death-curse powerful enough to kill all of the other sons of the king, I need sacrificial blood worthy of such a task, that's why I've brought you here."

Up until now, Lea had already gone through so much fear and confusion, but what this woman was telling her now was simply… madness! What did she had to do with the sons of an ancient Pharaoh? What did she had to do with whoever inherited said Pharaoh's throne? Why did she or anyone had to be sacrificed just so the grim ambitions of a witch would be fulfilled? The evil queen went on.

"For many days and nights, I prayed to the Gods to grant me a sacrifice. I didn't care what country the person was from, I asked for the worthiest sacrifice and you were the one who was shown to me."

"This is… this is just crazy! This kind of thing is not possible! It just can't be allowed, it can't be!"

"It might be impossible where you came from, but this is the kingdom of Egypt, and I am the Queen of Pharaoh Aknamkanon I, priestess of water. There is nothing I cannot do."

A man's voice sounded from beyond the wooden door calling for the queen.

"Your Highness! A message! His Majesty, the Pharaoh is on his way here now!"

"What did you say?! Why is his Majesty coming here?!"

"Perhaps news of the uproar in the city reached his ears."

The queen didn't seem quite as content now. Naturally, she couldn't let the Pharaoh know about her placing death curses on his other sons. That was it! The Pharaoh! Perhaps the king was able to stop the queen from using Lea as a sacrifice.

"It's necessary that this girl's blood must flow. I've got an idea!"

Without delay, the queen gagged her prisoner, rendering her unable to say anything about what Lea knew of the queen's plan. The Pharaoh arrived shortly afterwards. The queen took him to the chamber where she had imprisoned the foreign girl so he could see her.

The king could still be considered to be a middle-aged man, probably around his fifties, although for that age, yes, he'd indeed be considered an old man. His skin clearly showed how much the Egyptian sun had bronzed it. He had a dark gray beard and a strong yet tranquil gaze. There was so much that Lea wanted to tell him, she wanted to ask him for his help, but she couldn't do or say a damn thing.

"Queen, I heard something about a girl appearing from a spring. Why is that girl here in your palace?"

Making a reverence, the queen smiled to the Pharaoh, ready to put her idea in action. She'd manage to realize her grim intentions without the king even suspecting about the issue.

"Have you forgotten, my liege? I am not only a queen, but I also serve as a priestess of the Great Temple. That spring is under the jurisdiction of Amun's blessed temple, it is no coincidence that this girl has come to me."

"Hmm. So what do you plan to do with the girl?"

"Well, if indeed she came from Amun… then perhaps returning her will bring prosperity to the kingdom."

The foreign girl could only listen while they discussed what her fate should be. She prayed that the Pharaoh would save her and for a moment when the queen mentioned she could be returned to Amun, her hopes somehow got a little bit up, that is until she learned what it truly meant.

"You mean to sacrifice her to Amun?" the king asked.

"If that is your wish" replied the evil queen.

"If that is your decision, my queen, then let it be done."

The queen smirked to her insides, triumphant, and all of Lea's hopes of being saved died with the monarch's sentence, making her heart sink to the bottom of her stomach.

"As you wish" replied the sorceress, "Take the girl to the Great Temple, and send an announcement to the city that we will perform the ritual tomorrow."

Lea's hazel eyes went red and swollen from crying all night. She didn't want to lose hope and she hated to feel so damn weak and helpless, but she was living this horrible nightmare, unable to wake up from it, unable to escape it; her hopes agonized quickly just the same as her time.

Sunrise was about to break when she was brought out to the center of the Great Temple, where the ritual would be performed and she would be sacrificed. She had been stripped off her uniform so she could be put on a pure-white, linen robe with only a few symbolic accessories adorning her. Everything was ready. Priests, soldiers and nobles filled the whole place and she still had her hands and feet tied up to prevent her from running away. Now all that was missing was for some royalty members to attend the ceremony. One of the priests silenced the crowd to announce their entrance, one by one.

"His Majesty, Pharaoh Aknamkanon, please be seated. His Highness, crown prince Anedjib Senedi, please be seated" he asked respectfully as the king walked towards his honor reserved seating. The crown prince, his oldest son, walked right behind him and took one of the two empty seating places, right beside his father.

"The third prince, his Highness Atem Halakti, please be seated as well" called the priest, and as he did, a third man showed up just a few steps behind the crown prince. Lea recognized him right away: It was the kiss-stealing creep from yesterday!

_No way! That man?! He is actually a prince?!_

Yes, it was him, no doubt about it; those penetrating violet eyes and the very unusual hairstyle were impossible to mistake. Come to think about it, the way he was dressed was very fanciful compared to everyone else she saw that day, except for the queen, of course. In fact, now that she could see them close to each other, that man called Atem shared that same strong gaze with the Pharaoh, the same eye color…

The third prince sat right beside his older brother and greeted both him and their father. He did look her way then but didn't seem to recognize her from yesterday at all. He seemed popular though; the young ladies in the crowd called out for him and he returned the greeting with a short, elegant waving and a polite smile. A servant from the temple approached them to pour some wine on each of their goblets while the ceremony started.

_If that man is the third prince then that means… He must be friends with the queen all along, just like the Pharaoh…!_

And thinking of the queen, she finally appeared, clad in an elaborated ceremonial gown, a long staff in her hand and flanked by two other priests that would assist her in this ritual. New tears sprouted from her eyes, knowing that the time had come and she had no chance of escaping. Even so, she struggled against the temple servants that held her in place, refusing to die in a place like this and in such a horrible way.

"Oh, great Amun, God of gods!" the queen recited, her arms open in a cross, "I pray to you for the blessing of rain and for the fertility of our land. I send to you this untainted virgin."

Another servant appeared behind her, holding a ceremonial axe which he lifted over his head. When she looked back over her shoulder, her eyes almost went out of their orbits when they beheld the blade that would chop her head off of her neck.

"Receive this tribute! Grant my wish!"

_Noooo! I don't want to die!_

Suddenly, a fine goblet flew out of nowhere and hit the hand of the servant with the axe, which fell to the floor with a thud, along with the sound of the goblet turning to pieces. There was a general gasp of startlement and confusion followed by the murmuring of the ceremony's audience. With teary eyes, still open wide in terror, Lea stared straight at the axe lying on the floor, her heart about to come out of her chest as she swallowed hard.

"Who was that?!" roared the queen, "Who threw that goblet?! How dare you insult Amun by interfering with the rituals?!"

"That wasn't an insult at all. In fact, it was quite the opposite, mother dearest."

A masculine voice replied to the queen and all of the attendees, including Lea, turned to see Prince Atem rise from his seating.

"Prince Atem! Were you the one who threw the goblet?!" the queen continued barking at him as he approached the terrified girl, "What do you mean 'opposite'?! It doesn't matter that you are one of the Pharaoh's sons! Under these circumstances, your actions are inexcusable!"

The prince passed in front of the queen and Lea watched him come closer full of mistrust. The temple servants still held her in place, but the girl instinctively shrugged and tried to get herself unhanded.

"Hold on, mother dearest," he replied the queen, "I do not wish to deceive our god, so I intervened."

Atem knelt before the girl to take a closer look and removed the gag that almost covered half her face, looking at her with an 'Ah-ha!' kind of expression.

"Ah! So it _is_ that girl!" he said and turned to his father the Pharaoh with a question, "Dear father, isn't purity a requirement for all of our offerings to Amun?"

"Of course it is" answered the king, giving his son a scolding look.

"Then, knowing that the tribute is impure and keeping quiet about it… that is also inexcusable, is it not?" the prince sighed and shook his head, "It seems I have no choice… I must confess."

All the attendees stood by in expectation, even Lea wondered what the third prince was about to confess, when she felt a pair of arms grabbing her and holding her close to their owner's chest.

"I have already made this girl mine once. Unaware that she was a tribute, I stole her chastity."

The crowd got the message right away and once again let out a gasp, but it took Lea a few seconds to sink into realization of what the third prince had just sated, but once she did, the echo of her voice could be heard in the whole temple.

"WHAAAAAT?!"

The queen's objection was quick to follow.

"That´s… that's a lie!" _I just summoned that girl to this country yesterday! This must be the first time he's ever even seen her!_

But the prince dedicated a cunning smile at the ambitious sorceress.

"And how is it that you can be so sure about that, _mother dearest?_" he retorted and addressed now Lea using that same suggestive, flirty tone from the day before, "Surely, even you have not forgotten what we did yesterday in the cool shade of the trees, hmm…?"

The teenage girl, still 16, who had never shown that much interest in dating anyway and who had barely given her first kiss away just last year, was perplex with how the tables had turned on this situation. She was still tied up, otherwise she would've bitch-slapped that creep's face for uttering such a shameless lie. On the other hand, the attendees, and especially Atem's relatives, didn't seem as surprised as one would expect them to be.

"You shameless bastard…!" Lea roared, "Yesterday was…! You forced me…! You forced me to kiss-…!" but she cut off her sentence as she heard a discreet yet quite firm whisper on her ear.

"If you wish to keep your head on your neck," Atem whispered, "wouldn't it be better for you to play along?"

Lea couldn't reply at that moment, she shrugged, shrinking a little within the prince's arms. No matter how much she hated to admit it, that man was right: Her neck was on the line here and as much unorthodox as this method was, prince Atem was offering her an escapeway to all this madness of the sacrifice ritual. Of course, Lea didn't want to die, she didn't want to! But she also couldn't let this guy have more than just a kiss.

"Girl," the Pharaoh raised his voice then, determined to put an end to that farce right away, "does the prince speak truly?"

The whole place went silent and waited for an answer, all of the gazes pinned solely on Lea. There was no more room for hesitation. This was her only chance of saving her neck, if she let it slip, there would not be another one, it would be the end of the road for her. It was either her life or her honor, and either way, she was doomed, but at least if she played along with the third prince's ploy, she'd live to see another day and maybe rebuilt her honor as a lady.

She shrugged a little bit more, making herself look even smaller and she bit her lower lip. She didn't feel capable of saying it out loud, so she simply nodded a couple times, confirming Atem's statement. The most disgruntled one, of course, was the queen.

"Eeep!" the girl squeaked as she was promptly lifted up onto Prince Atem's shoulder.

"Therefore," the prince added with a bright smile, "I'll take responsibility for rendering her useless as a tribute. I'll take her into my custody."

But the queen was not going to simply let him have his way and take the girl away.

"Prince Atem! I won't allow this selfishness!" she roared.

"I will make amends to the temple" he promised charismatically, "I'll send a hundred virgin cows and goats, that should comply with the usual custom, right, Father?"

And the Pharaoh simply sighed a stern "Yes…" but with that, the evil queen's complaints were left out of place.

The violet eyed man led his steps towards the temple's exit with his young and pretty prize on his shoulder, but when passing near to the Pharaoh's seating, his father briefly lectured him before he left.

"Atem, I don't care if you're a womanizer," he stated with a calm yet serious face, "but please try to shape up and settle down with a proper princess."

His son responded by letting another one of those warm, charismatic smiles grace his face again.

"I agree with you, Father. It's just that, there are more beauties in this world than stars in the sky… how can I decide on just one?"

Lea didn't know how to feel about this result or how to deal with it yet. On one hand, she was relieved that she was able to escape having her head cut off and stay alive, but on the other hand, now she was at the mercy of the third prince of Egypt's will and that left her quite unsettled. She was still distressed and struggled with the uncertainty of what would be her next fate. Once more, tiny, silent tears slowly dripped from her eyes. Where would she end up now? What would happen to her next? She had been saved, yes, but at what cost? The only thing Lea truly wished for was going back home to her dearest aunt and uncle.

On her own side, the queen and priestess remained within the Great Temple, ruminating on her anger. Her faithful servant, the man always covered with a dark cloak that used to be by her side all the time, was following her as she marched in silence towards her own palace, calculating her next move.

"Prince Atem's quick hands are widely known," said the servant, "perhaps, even with that girl he could have…"

"I don't care about that!" she snapped out, "For my true purpose, the death curse, it doesn't matter whether the tribute is pure or not. All I need is that girl's blood flowing from her neck!"

"Oh… then?"

"I think I've got it. I could get to prince Atem's palace by using the 'dark water'…"

At the Great Temple's main entrance, there was a war chariot waiting for the prince to return while a long-haired Egyptian male wearing a long robe, was fetching some water for the horses.

"Mahad!" the violet-eyed man called out, startling the long-haired one, "The ceremony is over. Let's go back to the palace."

"Atem-sama! What's this?! Who is that girl?!" he asked noticeably confused. "How come the ceremony is over so soon?"

"It was Queen Neferura again, plotting, scheming and up to no good as usual. I don't get what she was pretending this time, but I spirited this girl away from her."

Atem carefully placed the girl inside the chariot and both men hopped on as well. Lea couldn't help but noticing how the prince spoke about the queen and gazed at him quietly for a few seconds while he untied her.

"You… are not friends with the queen, are you?" she finally asked up. Atem held his laugher back and shook his head in negation.

"Friends? The queen probably thinks I'm the most bothersome person in the whole world."

"T-then you… you could…!" words came to her, but they seemed to ran one over the other as she spoke them out "Could you help me… go back to my home? The queen brought me here! Could you help me go back home?!"

Both men turned to look at her for a second, intrigued.

"The queen brought you?" asked the prince, "Where from?"

"United Kingdom! Great Britain!"

"Great Britain, you said? I've never heard of that country before."

"This is Egypt, right? And that big river is the Nile, isn't it? The United Kingdom is way further to the north, beyond the Mediterranean Sea."

"Beyond the Mediterranean… You mean the Hittite Empire? Is that where you come from?"

"No, I don't know that place…" 'Hittite' didn't sound remotely familiar. At this rate, Lea had long realized that she had somehow traveled back in time to the historic ancient Egypt, but even after seeing her own death so close just minutes ago, there was still a tiny part in her that still wanted to believe that all that had happened to her during the past last 48 hours was some kind of bad dream, and only a bad dream. Even though she was aware of how real was everything around her, it was still too hard for her or anyone to believe and accept 100%, even when she was living the whole thing in her flesh.

"You don't come from there? Then maybe…" Atem looked at her closely. The previous day when they first met, she looked way too different to him, maybe because of those strange clothes she was wearing at the time, but this time he wanted to take a good look at her so that he could maybe get a better idea what her origin country was. The third prince was 3.5 cubits high so the girl should be somewhere above the 3 cubits high but not quite reaching his 3.5. She was somewhat skinny but she had a good complexion; she had nice, even, olive skin, a skin tone quite closer to the color of light-toasted wheat rather than Atem's mocha tan. She had big, slightly almond-shaped hazel eyes. The reddish-brown color of her short, wavy hair stood out. Her features vaguely reminded him of the Bedouins from the eastern desert, but she said she came from the north, so perhaps…

"Do you know of the Mitanni Kingdom or the Assyrian Empire?"

"Assyria!" Finally! Something she knew about! Although it was not a close reference by any means, but at least it sounded familiar "I know Assyria!" _Is that really where I am now? In the age of Assyrians? But that's… thousands of years into the past…!_

"Is Assyria near to your country?"

"No, it's not really close, I've only heard about that place, never been there…" _In fact, it's in the opposite direction to where UK is supposed to be…_

Her brain made an extra effort to gather as much information as she may had about the cultures, the places, the ages, but she had only stored about enough information to fight off her way through History at school. Her grades were mostly quite decent, yes, but not really outstanding in the subject and sometimes not even good enough to get a passing score. She was regretting it a little now.

"But your Highness," the long-haired man entered the conversation, "The Assyrian Empire has been expending quite quickly as of late. I wouldn't be surprised if they had already reached further surrounding regions, new cities may be emerging now."

The men started taking between them, but Lea stopped paying attention to what they said. There was a huge cluster of thoughts growing in her mind that was starting to overwhelm her, giving her a huge headache that threw her off balance while standing on the moving chariot. The prince grabbed her by the arm right away, preventing her fall, but the girl was shaking and she looked like she was getting nauseous.

"Hey, are you alright?! You… what's your name?" he asked again, his violet eyes fixed attentively on her.

"Lea…" she muttered, "My name is Lea…"

"Well then, Lea, you said the queen brought you here, right? For what purpose would she do something like that?"

Lea got the chills as she recalled the issue.

"She said… she said she wanted her son to take the throne… so she said she'd place a death curse on the other princes and… that she needs my blood to cast that curse on them…"

The charioteer gasped and the prince by his side simply stared silently. Both seemed stunned but none of them seemed to really doubt her testimony.

It didn't take them long to reach Prince Atem´s palace. Lea was then escorted by a servant to one of the many ample bedchambers where she'd be lodged in. Shortly after, that same servant brought her a tray filled with tasty treats and a good meal. She was hungry, how could she not be if she hadn't eaten anything since yesterday? Both the queen and the priests at the temple made sure she didn't get dehydrated but they didn't bother feeding her since her fate was to be sacrificed the very next morning.

And yet she barely touched the food. Once she was left alone, all the emotional and psychological weight of the last 48 hours finally settled on her head and her chest. All those feelings she had struggled so hard to hold back finally broke loose. She cried all day nonstop until she fell asleep on a wooden chair, covered with the very same cloak the prince had worn that morning for the ceremony. When she woke up, it was already nighttime and she was still stuck in Aknamkanon I´s Egypt.


End file.
